Unexpected Measures
by Britt-Ulquiorra
Summary: Inoue Orihime cherishes her friends above all else.. What if she had a different beginning and if she had never bonded with the friends she would give her life for. Better summary inside. Strong Hime, pairing undecided.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary**

The life of Inoue Orihime is a known part of the Bleach series. We all know that Orihime is a naive girl, filled with weird fantasies and odd eating habits. But, we also know that she cherishes her friends above all else. She strives to become strong to aid them in their battles, but still always being left behind. But, in this story, Orihime has had a different beginning and she's just getting started.

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><p><strong>Chapter One – A Different Beginning<strong>

It was a rainy day. Inoue Orihime hated rainy days. It reminded her of death and loneliness. She used to love rain, naively thinking that the rain had a way of bridging the sky and earth, but, Orihime came to understand that rain was just that: Rain.

It was Orihime's first day at Karakura High School and she was a bit nervous. A few years ago, when her brother Sora died, Orihime was taken in by her Aunt Minako and raised by her in Kyoto. After her Aunt fell ill Orihime decided it was time to go on her own, and the only other place that felt like home to her was Karakura Town. So, she had planned to finish her senior year at Karakura High.

Being the new girl, she was a bit nervous, but, who wouldn't be? She knew no one and had no interest in having any new friends. She wasn't a cold hearted person, but, she had a feeling that perhaps this wasn't the ideal place for making friends, after what happened to her brother, Orihime had trouble getting close to people. Being here in Karakura made her remember a few things about her childhood that she hadn't thought about in years.

As a baby, Orihime's parents weren't what you'd call normal. They were the worst sort of people, her mother selling her body for money, her good for nothing father drinking day in and day out, hitting her, and her mother and Sora. So, one day Sora took Orihime away and she never saw them again.

Orihime had a secret that she had never told anyone. She could do things, odd things. Once at school she saw a young boy fall down and she felt sad that he was hurt, and there was a flash of golden light and she woke up... the boy was gone, and she had never found out what had happened. Whenever she had ever cut herself, or even fallen down, there was never a drop of blood or even a bruise, almost like she was invincible.

Orihime looked at her watch, not wanting to be too late or too early on her first day, she had ten minutes before the first bell for classes she supposed. Time to check in with the teachers or whatever and get her classes straightened out... what a bother!

Later that morning Orihime was shown into class by the teacher, whom she was told was named Ochi sensei. She was asked to speak her name and something about herself.

"Hi! My name is Inoue Orihime, I just moved here from Kyoto. I am pleased to meet you."

The teacher told her to take a seat and so she did, the rest of the morning was fairly uninteresting, until break. The first of her peers to be brave enough to say hello was a girl with red hair, she was about the same height as Orihime with a fair face and glasses.

"Hi, I'm Chizuru, Nice to meet you Orihime-chan!"

Orihime smiled at the girl and said hello, within a few minutes they were talking like old friends. Another girl, tall and skinny, with small features and wildly messy short black hair joined their conversation, she named herself as Arisawa Tatsuki. She was a member of a dojo and was ranked second at last year's competition.

Other students that Orihime took notice of were in a group away from the other students as if there was something secret about what someone had to say. Tatsuki told her who they were.

One of them was a muscled man, with tanned skin and wavy dark brown hair, he seemed to be a giant, and Tatsuki had said his name was Sado Yastura. Another was a boy with Navy hair and dark blue eyes with glasses, he looked bored with the others conversation and opted to look around the room instead, Ishida Uryuu. A girl was with them, she was short with shoulder length black hair with her bangs sort of falling in her eyes, she looked intelligent and was arguing with the last of the group, Chizuru looked at the girl with... longing, said her name was Kuchiki Rukia. A tall lean boy with short orange hair, with a scowl upon his face arguing back and forth with the girl, Rukia, he had kind brown eyes and a dark demeanor. Orihime could barely hear the whispers of their argument, Tatsuki had said she and the orange haired boy had been best friends in their early childhood up until high school, she called him Kurosaki Ichigo.

Orihime came to the conclusion that this group of Kurosaki's seemed to be kind of off. Opting to talk to each other rather than hang out with the rest of the class, like their own gang. She decided that she was going to stay away from them, thinking that they might be up to no good. She couldn't afford to get into trouble in her senior year, she was a smart girl and she wanted to have a chance at a scholarship, she wasn't looking for trouble.

After school, Orihime walked to her new apartment, she had yet to finish unpacking and was determined to finish it tonight after her homework. A week went by; she was starting to have a routine. Get up, shower, school, homework, shower, sleep. Eating was fit into that schedule at the appropriate times. Orihime loved to cook! It was her favorite thing to do whenever she had the chance.

It was a beautiful sunny day, and Orihime was enjoying the walk to school, when all of a sudden she could hear this screeching noise and the earth trembled a little like a mini earthquake, out of nowhere this person, whom she had never seen before, popped out from behind a bush and jumped to attack the 'creature'. The man had on a black uniform, he had a tanned face and an afro, he was holding a sword and jumped up high to attack swinging his blade down at the monsters head cracking the bone white mask it wore, the monster disintegrated into nothing and the afro man sheathed his sword, one second he was there and then next he disappeared. That was weird. Orihime thought that maybe her imagination was running away with her again, and continued on to school. Only to find that there were some students missing: Ishida, Sado, Kuchiki and Kurosaki were all missing from class.

On the way home, Orihime could see a cat walking right next to her, it fallowed her all the way to her apartment, where just outside her door there was a man wearing 3 inch sandals and a green clothes, topped off with a green and white hat. As Orihime got closer, the man looked up and smiled at her.

"You must be Inoue Orihime! Nice to finally meet you! Come in, come in, there's plenty to talk about!" said the mysterious Getabushi.

"This is my apartment, and I have no idea who you are... leave me alone please." Orihime was not one to lose her temper, but today was just weird.

"I am sorry Inoue-san, where are my manners!" the man exclaimed, "I am Urahara Kisuke, a modest owner of a candy shop. But, I have been keeping my eye on you Inoue-san and I believe you are the key!"

The guy was off of his rocker. Enough said. She could only stare at him.

"Alright, that may have been a ... bad start. Please let us go inside and have tea, I'll explain everything to you, I promise I won't hurt you, I just have something to say, you may decide whether or not I'm crazy after that, okay?" Urahara looked a little desperate.

"Uhm, well, just five minutes okay... tell me what this is about... and how do you know my name." Orihime was a fast thinker, and it seemed to her, that this man, Urahara, had a deep need to say something important, she didn't know what, of course, but she had a feeling it had something to do with the incident she had witnessed this morning. So, she unlocked the door and went inside, holding the door for Urahara, the cat by this time had jumped upon his shoulder and was sitting comfortably.

When she and Urahara had sat down at a small table in the middle of the living room, Orihime began.

"Urahara-san, please tell me how you know my name." Not one to be too patient, she needed to know how he knew her, so that she would know how to keep the crazies away from her.

"A classmate of yours Kuchiki Rukia, she is a... client of mine and has mentioned that everyday your spiritual power has been making itself known. Naturally I have been looking into this-"

"Right, well, I think you're done, Urahara-san I have listened to you and have made my deci-"

"Hold just a minute, Inoue-san, I'm not finished. Please allow me to explain." Urahara seemed to be about a minute from explosion, he looked nervous, and even a little afraid. "I know you think I'm crazy, but, it's not every day that you get to have answers. Tell me, Inoue-san, I know you feel it. A feeling inside of you that sometimes you might lose control, have you ever felt that way, Inoue-san?"

"I- yes. I have felt like that. Are you trying to tell me that you know what it means… that you know what's wrong with me? How do I fix it?" Now she was the one who was pleading.

"Listen; there is nothing wrong with you. You have a power within you that is trying to surface, with some training; we can help you to understand this." Urahara was starting to look relieved.

"Okay, now explain to me why Kuchiki told you about me, what's this had to do with her?" Orihime was starved for answers, which questions to ask first, 'prioritize Hime!'

"You may not believe that there are supernatural beings in this world, but there are. There is a place called Soul Society. People who die, their souls go there. Within Soul Society there is a, what you might call, a military force. They protect souls. They are called Shinigami, or others refer to them as Gods of Death. There are two kinds of souls. Plus and Minus. Plus or Wholes as some call them they are regular souls. But each soul has a chain which hangs from the chest of the person; this is called a chain of fate. Normally, a Shinigami will have helped the Plus soul to move on, but, sometimes they are too late and the Chain of Fate will erode and turn the soul into a monstrous creature that we call Hollow." Urahara paused and looked intently at Orihime, taking his time gauging her reaction to what he had said so far. "Hollows are creatures that may take on an animal like shape, they have bone masks and a screech that could bust your eardrums, but, I think you already knew that didn't you Inoue-san?"

"This morning on my way to school, I saw one of the creatures you speak of, and perhaps I saw a Shinigami too, he was wearing a black kimono and he had a sword. I don't know why anyone else wasn't freaked out by that. The people on the road, walking by like nothing was happening!"

"That's probably because they couldn't see what was happening. Only people with a certain amount of spiritual energy can see Hollows and Shinigami. Most Humans are unable to, except for a few, here and there, some can, some won't say that they can, lest they be put away for the rest of their lives. Others hone their new skills and join the fight against the Hollows. There are many paths that can be taken here, Inoue-san. I want to know which you choose." Urahara finished, looking pleased with himself, but there was a hint of uncertainty there as well. Maybe he was afraid she would say no.

"What are you asking me to do Urahara-san? I don't know how to handle this new information." Orihime was thinking miles a minute.

"Alright, here, take this. My store's address is on it. When you are ready you come and see me. I don't want you to decide now, it really is too much. Take a few days. If you decide to fight with us, we will help you to train yourself, to understand your power, should it choose to manifest itself. I must get back to my shop, Inoue-san, thanks for not kicking me out, and I hope to hear from you."

With that Urahara and the cat walked out the door, Urahara shutting it behind him. The rest of the night was done on auto-pilot unpack this, shower, eat, unpack that, homework, TV, unpack again. This went on and on, Orihime thinking about Urahara's offer. Should she help? Would she be able to? Did she even want to? It was a scary world without adding monsters and people with swords.

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><p>Author Notes: Hello, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I had a lot of fun writing it, updates may be sporadic at best, But I will finish this story someday! :) R&amp;R<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

The next day, Orihime woke up a little better than she fell asleep, more able to function around all the questions. She had decided she would go to see Urahara after school. A quick response but, she needed to know about this power brewing inside her, she ached to know what it was all about.

The day went by quickly; the only thing she took notice of was that Kurosaki, Kuchiki, Ishida, and Sado were still missing from school. She was starting to wonder if anything bad had happened to them. Orihime made her way to Urahara's Shop, trying to follow his ridiculous instructions. He had not told her the number and actually address, No, he had drawn a map. With the school as a landmark, Orihime's house a few large stores and other landmarks to go by.

After two hours of hunting, Orihime had managed to find the Shop. She walked up the driveway path and arrived at the door. There was a red haired boy in front of it, he looked to be about 10 years old wearing a white tee and blue shorts, holding what looked like a large bat. If Orihime was going to be honest with herself, she thought he looked a little threatening. Standing just behind him was a girl of approximately the same age, with a long pink skirt and white tee with Urahara Shoten written on it, she had black hair tied in pigtails and a sad face.

"Hi," said Orihime, "I'm looking for Urahara-san. Is he around?" She didn't know if they were the 'help' or if they were customers. It was a candy shop after all, but they were wearing the shop logo on their shirts, so, she thought it could go either way.

"Out back," said the boy, "I'll get 'im for 'ya." He jogged to a door that Orihime could see not far into the shop, opened it and then disappeared down a long hallway. It was several minutes before he returned with Urahara.

"Inoue-san! I didn't expect you to come until tomorrow at the earliest. Good, good! We can start today, if you feel you're up to it, come." He turned his back on the sunset haired girl and started stalking down the hallway, Orihime followed wearily. He led the way to a trap door leading down, underneath the store. This made Orihime more anxious, but she fallowed.

She was lead to an underground desert it seemed.

"Well, what do you think, Inoue-san, this is our training room. Very spacious, and quite soundproof, it's sunny too, all the time, no night down here." He smiled, "Yoruichi!" Urahara called, to nothing in particular. Moments later Orihime could see the black cat stalking down the stairs, slowly, but with a purpose. It stopped in front of Urahara, and looked up at him.

"This is your teacher, Inoue-san. May I introduce you to Shihoin Yoruichi? There are many things to learn and Yoruichi-san will know how to help you with everything you'll need. Say hello Yoruichi, don't be shy." This Getabushi was starting to grate her nerves even Orihime knew that cats couldn't talk.

"Let us begin."

"Did you say something, Urahara-san?" Orihime was losing her mind.

"Down here, child." She looked down, the cat was pointing at itself. That was the last thing she saw, then everything went dark.

The room was spinning. She was going to vomit. Oh God. Orihime got up as fast as her body could move her and looked around for something to throw up in; luckily she could see a toilet down the hall. Yes. She was going to make it, almost there, and…

"Agggggggggggghhhhh."

"Oh dear. I think she's ill," said Urahara, "I'll go fetch some tea." With that he walked up the staircase leading back into the store.

Orihime looked behind her; there in the hallway was that cat. Before she was going to give up and get sick again she needed to know that she wasn't crazy. "So you really can talk then?" Was her weak attempt at conversation, but, what do you say to a cat?

"You aren't going crazy, I am a cat, but, as far as I know I am the only cat that can talk." It seemed as if Yoruichi had said that exact speech many times before and was tired of it. Odd.

Orihime took the time to wash up and went back into the underground training room with Yoruichi. This time she was more prepared to hear it talk.

"Tell me, has your power ever manifested itself for you?" Yoruichi asked.

"No, I don't think so," responded Orihime.

"When your power has made itself known, what were you doing at those times?" Yoruichi asked, quietly.

"I don't know. I cut my hand once, but there was no blood. Isn't that weird?" Orihime let out a low chuckle. She was nervous now.

"I see. I want you to envision yourself to be in danger, and I want you to try and connect with your power, remember how you felt when you cut your hand, what it felt like, try and grasp this, only then will your power manifest."

It took three long and tiring weeks but Orihime finally manifested her power, all of a sudden they had poofed out of thin air. There are six of them, all fairy-like in appearance, all with names and their own personality. Lily was a pink haired female sprite wearing a blue bathing suit and yellow goggles. Baigon was a bald sprite with a mask covering the lower part of his face. Hinagiku was a sprite that has an eye patch with an energetic personality. Ayame was a female sprite with a large kimono and a shy personality. Shun'o was a male sprite with a high pony tail and friendly personality. Lastly, Tsubaki, a tough as nails sprite with a large ego, was wearing a cloth covering the lower part of his face.

Orihime also learned that she has three abilities that they can help her with. The first was Santen kesshun, a shield technique that can protect Orihime from incoming attacks, which is done with the help of Lily, Baigon and Hinagiku. Soten kisshun, a technique that can reverse what has been done to an object with the help of Ayame and Shun'o and koten zanshun an attack technique with the help of Tsubaki. Together they are called the Shun Shun Rikka.

After training one day, Orihime was taking a break at the Urahara Shop, talking with Urahara, when she realized it had been a month since Kurosaki and his friends had been to school. Right after that day Yoruichi told her how to help herself manifest her power she had not seen Yoruichi around either. Since Urahara had told her that he knew Kuchiki, she went ahead and asked if he knew where the rest of them were and if they had all gone away together. The story that he had to tell was grim to say the least.

So Kuchiki was deemed a traitor to the Shinigami for helping Kurosaki to save his family and sentenced to death, so Kurosaki, Ishida, Sado and Yoruichi went to save her. How could they rush into something like that so quickly? Did they not think of the consequences? If her people said that she couldn't save lives then she would say: The hell with you. She wouldn't stick around to be executed, maybe she should think twice about helping these people, they obviously don't value lives like normal people.

The bright eyed girl decided to put that train of thought out of her mind. No good would come from acting like a traitor; she was already on unsteady ground. Being new to the Spirit world was bad enough, having to learn much about Hollows, hearing stories about the Gotei 13 and learning of the existence of the Spirit King, which in Orihime's opinion was a very interesting subject.

Imagine. A King, presiding over all of the dead, he must be what humans would call God. She had to ponder on this. God was not something Orihime had chosen to believe in before, but learning of the existence of this Spirit King made her think twice. Could he really have created all of this? Or was it just something Humans chose to believe in for the sake of 'protecting' their souls? As far as Urahara knew, the Spirit King lived in a different dimension from Soul Society protected by His Royal Guard and has shown no interest in governing Soul Society and passed this duty off to a council of people known as Central 46.

What King would show no interest in its people? Orihime's musings were interrupted when Urahara coughed suddenly grabbing her attention.

"There are lives at stake here, Inoue-san. There is a plot, a very dangerous one that Kurosaki and his friends have found themselves in the middle of.

One hundred years ago, I was a part of the Gotei 13. I was the Twelfth Division Captain and First head of the Technological Research Bureau. It was strange times, people going missing, leaving their clothes behind. No one knew what was going on. The Captain-Commander Yamamoto Genryusai sent a team of captains and lieutenants to investigate." Urahara looked as if he was lost in deep thought. After a long pause he continued.

"My own lieutenant was among the chosen to go. And I was worried for her. I had a bad feeling about all of it. It seemed so wrong; I had found it hard to believe that no one else had seen through it. That no one else seemed to think we were being set up. But, I found it.

Worried about the safety of my lieutenant I set out with Tessai to investigate. Back then Tessai was the leader of the Kido Corps, and believe me he was a force to be reckoned with. We followed the team, watched them become infected and tried to help.

The captain of the Fifth Division, Aizen Sosuke, he was the culprit along with his lieutenant Ichimaru Gin and their other accomplice Tosen Kaname. Aizen was experimenting with Hollowfication, A dangerous science which had yet to be explored and tested. It was something others dared not to explore. I understood the principals and came to realize that this was his plan, and that was what he was doing to the Investigating team. Aizen was turning them into Hollows, into monsters. We confronted them, and barely made it away alive, Aizen had tricked us, tricked everyone. He placed the blame of Hollowfication onto Tessai, Yoruichi and I. We had yet to be sentenced when Yoruichi saved us from the Central 46 and we escaped Soul Society to live here; in the Human world. It's been a hundred years but we haven't forgotten about Aizen and now we prepare for a war." Urahara had a spark of determination in his eyes, as he sat up straighter and took a deep breath. "Inoue-san, it is selfish of me, but, I need to know if you're with us… Aizen is a powerful being, and now he has his weapon. Something I curse myself for creating; the Hogyoku. With it he will destroy us all if we don't stop him!"

Orihime had a feeling that maybe she was in too deep, the world's problems weren't supposed to be dumped onto her. She was a girl, trying to finish school, trying to be better than her parents, trying to make her brother proud; she wasn't the type of person to go looking for trouble, she wasn't brave like Urahara; she had no idea how to save the world.

"I – Urahara-san, I still don't understand… why am I so important? I don't have a sword, what help could I be to the people in Soul Society, they are the ones who protect humans aren't they?" She was breathless, never had she said something so negative to someone before! What had gotten into her? "What I mean is... maybe I should stay out of this. I've hardly begun to understand my powers and you want me to go to war. I just don't want to be reckless, please, just give me some time."

With that she got up and bowed her head, thanked Urahara for his time and left the store, only to bump into Kurosaki Ichigo. She landed flat on her behind with a breathless 'oomph'. Kurosaki looked down; to see the girl he bumped into and apologized. Orihime could see Ishida and Sado just behind him. After apologizing, Orihime got up and brushed herself off, Kurosaki had already continued on into the store followed by his friends. Being appalled at his attitude she continued on, down the winding paths leading home.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

That evening at home Orihime thought long and hard about Urahara's war. For three days she was on auto-pilot. Get up, eat, school, home, eat, homework, shower, sleep. She couldn't decide if fighting was worth it, she knew no one apart from Yoruichi and Urahara, barely acknowledging Kurosaki and his friends, who seemed to be as stuck up as ever. Even after they knew that she knew everything about what they do, and why they went to Soul Society. It seemed that Kuchiki had decided to stay in Soul Society after being rescued.

On the fourth day, Orihime had decided that she had thought long enough for that day, and decided to get some ice-cream and go to the park. She bought her favorite and sat down the base of a large tree in the shade from the scorching sun. She spent most of the afternoon cloud watching and soon her dilemma drifted away and fell asleep.

Orihime had no idea how long she had lain there under the tree, but the first thing she was aware of was a constant shaking of the ground, like a low rumble underneath her. Groggily she sat up and looked around, it was nearly dark out! How long had she been asleep? Suddenly a loud crash to her left brought her to her senses and she jumped up looking around for any signs of trouble.

Running out of the bushes was a young boy of about 8 years; She noticed that he must have been a plus soul, for he had a soul chain in his chest; he had tears in his eyes and was screaming bloody murder, Orihime was alarmed, if he was running from a Hollow, she was definitely out of her league; she had practice at Urahara-san's but she had never faced and actual Hollow.

She heard the trademark scream of the Hollow and saw as it came out off of the beaten path the boy had run out of and started to laugh, a low mocking tone that sent chills up her spine.

"Did you really think you could run from me? You puny child, I'll have your soul! Give it to me!"

The Hollow looked like a giant insect; large wings, four legs and two arms, all muscled with a long tail. It was very large, easily six times her size. Where was that afro Shinigami when she needed him! Dammit!

She ran over to the boy and stood in front of him protectively. "Go," she whispered. "I'll take care of him! Run away now while you still can!"

"Onee-san," the boy looked startled to have someone some to his rescue.

"Just go!" Orihime was becoming afraid; what if she couldn't handle this?

The boy looked at her long and hard, then turned and scampered off as fast as his legs would take him.

"Well, what do we have here, you smell real tasty," the Hollow made an exaggerated inhale and exhale. "Yes, I'm gonna enjoy this."

With that the Hollow lunged for her and she dove to the right keeping it in sight resolving to end this with Tsubaki. The Hollow came at her again nearly clipping her in the process.

"Tsubaki," she called, the small black clad sprite appeared before her out of thin air, for she had no physical manifestation like Urahara's zanpakuto. "Koten Zanshun! I reject!"

Tsubaki attacked with the force of a thousand sledge hammers, but the aim was off and she only managed to cut off and arm.

"Ku ku ku ku ku," the Hollow chuckled. "That all you got little girl! Ha ha ha ha ha…" he swung at her with his tail and landed a solid hit at her stomach, knocking the breath out of her with a 'whoosh'.

Standing on shaking legs, Orihime coughed up the blood that was starting to build up in her mouth and spit at the Hollow's clawed feet. "I'm not done yet! Koten Zanshun! I reject!"

Tsubaki struck right in the middle of the mask on the Hollow's face, the Hollow started to disintegrate with its death scream and faded away. Orihime fell to her knees after Tsubaki disappeared, breathing hard, her vision started to grow dark and she faded into unconsciousness.

When Orihime opened her eyes, she noticed that she was staring at a ceiling; the last thing she remembered was passing out in the park. Then, where was she, did someone find her?

"Ah, Inoue-san! A pleasure to see you awake! What a night you must have had." Urahara Kisuke. He must have found her then.

"How long have I been out, Urahara-san?"

"Well you took a pretty hard hit, and passed out, you've been asleep since we brought you here last night, Its now nearly noon." He knelt down next to her and smiled. "You did remarkably well for your first time fighting a Hollow."

Orihime felt proud of herself, she had saved that young soul, and defeated a Hollow all on her own, she took her time walking home later that day, enjoying the sunshine and loving the crisp smell of the earliest signs of autumn.

Finally the day came when Aizen seemed to be starting to make his move, and Orihime still hadn't decided where she stood, or who she stood with. The beginnings of autumn were making itself known; leaves starting to turn red and gold in color, each morning had a chill that lasted most of the morning. Today Orihime was in gym class with Chizuru and Tatsuki playing baseball, when out of the sky two figures emerged out of a black hole. Orihime must have been the only one to notice it and the crushing reitsu they brought with them. It almost brought her to her knees. She watched as they walked out of the hole they had made in the ground from their impact. Other students started to notice it too, they could see the crater, but, it seemed they were unable to understand where it had come from. Students were making their way over to the crater, curious now, Orihime went with them.

The silhouettes of two figures were becoming clearer as she moved closer to the crater. One was a large man? He had a bone mask around his chin and dark skin, his hair was short and bright red, he was a giant, easily 3 times larger than her. He was wearing a white hakama and a white jacket and black and white boots, there was a sword tied in the black obi he was wearing. Most notably, there was a hole in his chest.

The other figure was much smaller than the first, wearing white hakama, and a white jacket with long coattails in the back, this one also had a sword, a green hilt and green sheathe, Orihime could not see a whole in this one though, he had long black hair that almost reached his shoulders, and the most vivid green eyes she had ever seen. His hair fell down his face right between the eyes; he had dark green tear tracks down his cheeks and a pale face. Adorned on his head was a helmet that was only on the left side of his head, it was white with a horn. The two beings were an odd pair.

They were looking around slowly, noticing their audience. The students weren't able to see them, they kept saying things like: 'what do you think made this?' and 'what happened?' things like that told Orihime what she needed to know. Realizing she was the only one who could see them, she came to the conclusion that these were Hollows. They had masks and one of them had a hole in his chest. But, she had never seen anything like them before; she thought Hollows were just dumb monsters looking for a soul, but these Hollows, they looked almost human.

The big one spoke first, "what are these losers lookin' at? I hate it when they stare." With that he took a deep breath and Orihime could see white, almost bluish substances leaving the students surrounding her, after which, they fell dead on the ground, Chizuru and Tatsuki among them, leaving only Orihime standing. She was in big trouble.

"That's interesting," said the smaller of the two, his voice was calm, his expression showing nothing, as if he had not spoke at all. "You've a strong soul, woman. Tell me, do you affiliate yourself with the trash known as Kurosaki Ichigo?"

"No," said Orihime. It was an honest answer; she had hardly ever spoken to him or his friends. And it seemed clear to her that any affiliation with him would get her killed at this point. "Why would it matter if I did?" She spoke calmly, but every word was carefully spoken, not knowing how these strangers were going to react to her.

"It would matter, because you would already be dead," was his quick response.

Yep, she was going to die.

"Unless," he continued again. "Unless, you want to join us? Why be on the losing side? You'll just be killed like the rest of the trash in this place." His voice calm, it made her feel like she was being lured in, lulled into a false sense of trust and honesty.

Okay, well if he put it that way… why not take this course and see where it goes. "And if I join you? How do I know I won't be killed like them anyway? I want to be sure I'm not just going to be used and thrown out with the trash." She was thinking now, planning, how could she get out of this? How could she make the best of this? What the hell was she going to do? Urahara was going to be disappointed in her, but she didn't get this far just to die like a dog. The hell with it!

"There will be no guarantee; Aizen-sama will be the one to decide what to do with you. If he deems you worthy, that is." There was still no indication that he could actually move his face muscles; aside from his lips. And this was the guy she was trusting to keep her alive. Huh. This was turning out to be a bad idea already.

"Okay, take me to Him." She had hardened her resolve, and decided that she would be worthy, she wasn't stupid, and she knew that a guy like Aizen was greedy for power, and she had a power, she had no idea if it was anything that could be useful though. She had to hope, for her life's sake.

"Come with me, Woman." Was all that he said and using his index finger he trailed a straight line across the air, opening up another hole like the one they came through. "Yammy, we will have to postpone our mission, for the moment." The hole was open enough for the three of them to walk through and so they did. The hole closed behind them.

Inside there was a dark tunnel, Orihime could barely see a thing. She felt a hand on her arm; the green eyed man was firmly pulling her along as she stumbled in the darkness. After a quarter of an hour there was a glimpse of light in the distance. That must have been where they were headed. At the end of the tunnel the raven haired man opened another hole and Orihime could see where they had ended up.

The place was a desert, desolate and dark. With nothing moving, it was quiet. There were trees in the distance and the sand seemed to go on forever. There was a half moon in the sky, that didn't seem quite right to Orihime, it was backwards. But in the darkness it shone bright enough to light the way. In the distance to the left, Orihime could see a structure; it looked to be a castle of some sort.

"Welcome," said the pale man, "to Hueco Mundo." Orihime knew some Spanish, having studied it in Kyoto. Hollow world. Did that mean that Orihime was in another dimension? It suddenly made sense to her why they were in a desert. Hollows were lonely creatures having the humanity stripped from them, and living in emptiness without a heart. It made her feel a little sad.

The green eyed man and his large 'friend' continued to make their way, choosing to walk at a brisk pace, setting out towards the palace that seemed to be the only shelter in the vast desert. Orihime had to jog every now and then to not fall behind.

When they entered the palace a few hours later, Orihime was out of breath and very thirsty. She sure was out of shape, having pins and needles all along her right side, almost the whole way through their long walk through the desert. Her feet were sore and her boots full of sand, her hair was even full of sand and she had a feeling that her face was full of sand too.

Through winding hallways and up stairs, more hallways and eerie silence Orihime was lead by the green eyed man, his partner leaving to go his separate way some time ago. They stopped at a door. "Here you will clean yourself up; I'll not have you in that state before Aizen-sama." He gestured to the door, which he opened to reveal a bathroom. "Just make yourself presentable, later you will be able to clean up better if you have proven to be useful to Aizen-sama." The sunset haired girl took a few steps forward into the room; the man shut the door behind her.

There wasn't much that Orihime could do, she brushed her hair out, and washed her face, got the sand out of her boots and fixed her hair up into a pony tail. There was a knock at the door. She had done all she was asked to do, so opening the door she deemed herself appropriate for meeting Aizen.

Again she was lead through hallways and staircases; everything was white, with high ceilings and never ending passageways. There was no way for her to map her way, it all looked the same. Finally they stopped at a door.

"You will speak only when spoken to, touch nothing and be respectful, lest you lose your head, Woman." Gosh, this guy really knew how to charm a lady. What a douche. Orihime nodded, trying to hide the small smile she had from the thoughts that had entered her head. She wanted to laugh, but held it in 'lest she lose her head.'

"Ulquiorra you have returned." Orihime could see the man who had spoken; he was sitting atop a high throne, leaning back with a kind smile on his lips. He was wearing a long white coat and white hakama, a sword was sitting at his waist tied with a pink obi. He was handsome with a kind face which also hinted at amusement; he had short brown hair with a strand falling just between his honey-colored eyes.

The room they entered was spacious with many others sitting or standing around the throne. Ulquiorra lead her through the throng of other Hollows, many of them giving her odd or disgusted looks, others with a look of indifference, others didn't seem to notice her at all. All of the room's occupants seemed to have a piece of their mask in various places on their heads and faces. Some of them looked more human than others, and some didn't look human at all. There must have been a hundred or more all together.

"Ah, Ulquiorra, you have brought us a guest. Please tell us your name young one," said the man Orihime assumed was Aizen.

"My-my name is Inoue Orihime." After all her preparation for the meeting all the way from Karakura, she was still nervous not knowing if coming here had been such a good idea.

"Well Orihime for what reason do you suppose that Ulquiorra has brought you to Las Noches today?" Was he mocking her? She had no idea what Ulquiorra's reasons were. She decided she was going to have to take a guess as he said.

"I was at school when they dropped out of the sky from one of those black holes. And the big one-Yammy he sucked the souls out of all my classmates, except for me. Ulquiorra asked if I knew Kurosaki, and I do know of him, but I am not one of his lapdogs, he asked if I would join your cause and I said yes." She said all of this in one quick breath.

"The black hole you speak of is called a Garganta. We use it to leave Hueco Mundo to go to the human world. I can sense that you have spiritual power; you are quite strong to be able to stand with all this reitsu pressing down your back. You can feel it can't you?" Orihime nodded and he continued, "Then maybe you realize that you are stronger than you appear to be. You must be very brave to come into the demon's den, as they say, either that or very stupid. What can you hope to accomplish being here, what can _you_ do for me that I cannot do for myself?"

Orihime was indeed feeling more and more brave, it seemed as if Aizen could sense that she had power, but he knew not what she _could do_. This could be used to her advantage. "Well I can show you my power. I can heal injuries."

"Very well, Grimmjow, step up to the girl, if you please. Orihime, some time ago Grimmjow lost his arm in a… unfortunate accident. Heal him. And then we will decide." Aizen seemed too cocky for his own good, perhaps thinking that she couldn't do anything about something as simple to her as a missing arm. '_Pfft, I'll show you up!'_ was all Orihime could think.

She walked over to the blue haired man that Aizen had indicated, he indeed had one arm missing, he was wearing, and well honestly they all wore white hakamas with their own style of jacket. Grimmjow had chosen to wear his jacket open to reveal a bare and muscled chest; his sleeves were rolled up too. He had sapphire blue eyes as cold as the ocean; his mask was the remnants of a jaw bone with sharp looking teeth on the right side of his face. He was tall; 6'1 at least and had bluish-green markings in the corners of his eyes. A sword hung in his black obi, a blue hilt and 's' shaped guard. His hollow hole was clearly seen in his abdomen.

"Soten Kisshun, I reject," said Orihime as she came to a stop next to the blue haired Hollow. Immediately there was a golden light and a small shield surrounded the area on Grimmjow where there should be an arm. It took no more than two minutes for the arm to be restored. After completion Grimmjow flexed his arm and hand, looking at her in awe. She looked up to the throne; even Aizen seemed to be surprised. She waited.

"Well, obviously I must apologize to you my dear Orihime. Welcome to Las Noches and welcome to our Arrancar army. I would like to talk with you further, but I am busy today, I'll have Ulquiorra show you to a room, and he'll get anything else for you that you may need. Perhaps you can come back later and we'll have the cook prepare dinner." Orihime got the feeling that she was being rushed out the door.

Ulquiorra led her back out the way they came in, looking back once to see if she had fallowed. After a few minutes, they stopped at a door.

"This will be your room." He opened the door and allowed her to go in first, walking in behind her. "Clothing will be brought to you within the hour, there is a lavatory over there," he pointed out just off to the left, "There down the hall is a bedroom, this is the living area, there is also a kitchen for your use." Was monotony the only thing he knew how to understand? Orihime took a good look around the room, it was spacious, much more so than her apartment, everything was white; white couch, white walls, white carpet on the floor. Somebody needed to add more color to this place.

"Thank-you Ulquiorra-san," was Orihime's response.

"Just Ulquiorra, formalities here are not often used, and usually only used to address Aizen-sama or his subordinates."

"Who are his subordinates?" she asked.

"Ichimaru Gin and Tosen Kaname, other ex-Shinigami Captains who've turned against Soul Society for Aizen-sama's causes. If you see them around, they will introduce themselves." He had one hand in his pocket and was leaning against the door frame. "Why did you come here?" he asked, Orihime thought it was a little out of character for him to show any thing on his face, but, he looked curious.

"Thank you for showing me to my room, Ulquiorra." With that Orihime turned her back on him and started to explore the villa. As she got to the kitchen she heard the door shut, indicating that Ulquiorra had left, she smiled to herself, Ulquiorra would have to try harder than that for her to spill her thoughts. It was time that she took stock of her situation. She was in a strange desert world, far from home, with no one to relate to.

Even if she managed to live out the next few days unharmed who was to say that she wouldn't be cast aside if she didn't show any true loyalty to Aizen. She didn't even know what his true plans were, let alone if she agreed with them. She sought out the bedroom and laid down on the queen sized bed provided for her, it was soft and springy with white covers and feather filled pillowcases. She would have to wait a while for clothes and decided that she may as well get some rest. With no idea what to expect with her meeting with Aizen later, she would need her rest to keep her wits about her.


End file.
